Description of the attraction
At the beginning of the 18th century, plots on the banks of the Fontanka were transferred into the possession of noble nobles and were actively developed by them. At the end of the same century, one of the plots was acquired by the Beloselsky-Belozersky family. Since the 16th century, the owners of the palace belonged to the oldest Russian princely family, originating from Vladimir Monomakh, whose representatives have always held high government posts.
A new classicist style house with the main facade overlooking Nevsky Prospect was immediately erected here. But after several decades, the mansion became inconvenient for its owners; its modest classical facade did not correspond to the high position they occupied in society. The design of the new palace of the Beloselsky-Belozersky was entrusted to the architect Andrei Ivanovich Stakenshneider. The construction of the palace was completed in 1848, and it became the last of the private palaces built on Nevsky Prospekt. Contemporaries highly appreciated this building, calling it "a majestic palazzo", "a kind of perfection".
The architectural prototype of the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace was the Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospect, built according to the project of Rastrelli in the middle of the eighteenth century. They are even located on similar corner sections: one at the corner of the Fontanka, the other at the corner of the Moika.
The facades of the palace are decorated in the magnificent Baroque style that reigned in Russian architecture in the middle of the eighteenth century, when the Stroganov Palace was being built. Oval windows, semicircular pediments, elaborate platbands, figures of Atlanteans, numerous columns, elegant painting in three colors - all this makes the appearance of the house unforgettable.
Interior decoration, thanks to the use of motives of Western European and Russian architecture of the first half of the eighteenth century, is also a successful stylization of the Baroque and Rococo.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the palace became the property of the son of Emperor Alexander II - Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Since 1911, the palace belonged to the Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, one of the participants in the murder of Grigory Rasputin.
After the revolution, the building was nationalized. Various public organizations were located here in different years, in particular the Kuibyshev RK CPSU. During the Great Patriotic War, the building was badly damaged by shelling and bombing and was restored after the war.
The original interiors have been preserved in the palace, the premises of the second floor are especially good. Among them is the former library - the Oak Hall, which was used as a small concert hall, the Main Dining Room, the Beige Living Room, the Art Gallery, the Mirrored Ballroom with excellent acoustics, originally intended and still used for concerts, the Golden Crimson Living Room. All the halls have preserved the artistic decoration of the second half of the nineteenth century: lamps, fireplaces, mirrors, stucco, furniture, paintings and much more. Since 2003, the building has been under the jurisdiction of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation.
